Safety belt buckle

ABSTRACT

A safety belt buckle having a coupling member connected to one part of the safety belt assembly and including a spring loaded locking member, a tongue is connected to another part of the belt assembly which tongue can be inserted in said coupling member raising said locking member until said locking member snaps into its locking position retaining said tongue and means are provided for raising said locking member to release said tongue to permit its withdrawing from said coupling member to separate the belt assembly when desired.

United States Patent [191 Lindblad @cto 9, 1973 SAFETY BELT BUCKLEPrimary Examiner-Hemard A. Gelak [76] Inventor: Stig MartinLindblad,Varga1-da,

440 20 Sweden [22] Filed: Dec. 6, 1971 [57] ABSTRACT [21] Appl. No.:205,107 A safety belt buckle having a coupling member connected to onepart of the safety belt assembly and including a spring loaded lockingmember, a tongue is [30] Forelgn Pnonty Data 7 connected to another partof the belt assembly which Dec. 4, 1970 Sweden 16434/70 t ng e an beinserted in said coupling member i I ing said locking member until saidlocking member [52] ILLS. Cl. 24/230 AlL snaps into its locking positionretaining said tongue [51] Int. Cl A44b 11/26 and means are provided forraising said locking mem- Field of Search 24/230 230 her to release saidtongue to permit its withdrawing 24/230 AN, 230 AT, 230 NP; 292/150 fromsaid coupling member to separate the belt assembly when desired. [56]References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2 Ualms, 7 Drawing Figures3,201,840 8/1965 Jantzen 24/230 AN 3,555.632 l/l97l Lindblad 24/230 ALSAFETY BELT BUCKLE The present invention relates to safety belt bucklesof the kind comprising a coupling member connected to one part of thesafety belt assembly and provided with a spring loaded locking member,and a tongue connected to another part of the belt, said tongue beinginsertable into said coupling member and adapted upon insertion to raisethe locking member against the action of a spring, until the lockingmember snaps into its locking position and retains the tongue, manuallyoperable means being provided for raising said locking member in orderto release said tongue.

The object of the invention is to provide a buckle of the kind set forthabove which is reliable and easy to use and which is constructed from asmall number of parts which are cheap to manufacture.

A buckle according to the invention is mainly characterized in that thetongue has a front edge portion which is inclined in the plane of thetongue relative to the direction of insertion, the locking member beingdisplaceable between its locking position and its releasing position ina direction which forms a considerable angle to the plane of the tongueand is provided with guide edges which upon insertion of the tongue willslide against said tongue front edge, said guide edges being inclined insuch a direction that upon insertion of the tongue the locking memberwill be displaced against the action of the spring towards its releasingposition, the tongue being provided with an abutment behind which thelocking member will fall down at the end of the insertion movement.

One embodiment of the invention will be described herebelow withreference to the accompanying drawing wherein FIG. 1 is a longitudinalsection through the buckle and FIGS. 2 6 inclusive, illustrate variousparts of the buckle which will be described more closely herebelow.

In FIG. 1 numeral 1 indicates a buckle housing formed at one end as asleeve 3 which is placed around one part 2 of the safety beltarrangement. In the example shown the part 2 is not a piece of beltproper but a semirigid connecting member comprising a steel wire 4surrounded by a flexible plastic tube 5. One end of the wire 4 issecured in a sleeve 6 which is made in one piece with a plate 7. Theopposite end of the connecting member 2 may for instance be providedwith a suitable fitting for securing the connecting member in the flooror some other part of the vehicle. The plate 7 connected with the sleeve6 is connected by means of a rivet 12 with two guide plates 13 and I4. Alocking member 15 which is more clearly shown in FIG. 4 is journalled inthe two guide plates 13 and I4 and is displaceable against the action ofa spring 16. The locking member l5is in the form of a plate with variousportions of different width. As is more clearly illustrated in FIG. 5the two guide plates 13 and 14 are interconnected apart from by therivet 12 also by a rivet 27. The

The portion 34 has a width which is slightly less than the length of theaperture 30 and the portion indicated at 35 has a downwardly taperingform. The portion 36 has a width which is slightly less than the lengthof the aperture 31 in the guide plate 14 and such a height that it willbe located in the aperture 31 even in the raised position of the lockingmember 15. One belt part (not shown) of the safety belt is connectedwith a tongue 25 which is shown in FIG. I inserted into the bucklehousing and interlocked therewith. As will be clear from FIG. 2 thefront portion of the tongue is provided with a tapering slot 37 which atits inner narrower end connects to a wider opening 33, the width ofwhich exeeds the width of the portion 34 of the locking member 15. Whenthe tongue 25 is inserted between the guide plates 13 and 114 theinclined edges of the slot 37 will slide against the inclined edges ofthe portion 35 of the locking member so that the locking member will beraised against the action of the spring I6. Numeral 39 indicates a crossmember displaceably guided between the guide plates 13 and 14. The crossmember 39 has guide portions 40 which extend into slots 41 and 42 in theguide plates 13 and 114 respectively. The cross member 39 also has aprojection 44 which forms a guide for a coil spring 43 which has itsother end lying against the rear edges of the slots 41 and 42. Uponinsertion of the tongue 25 the cross member 39 will be displaced againstthe action of the spring 43. The locking member 15 has its portion 33resting against one leg 19 of a substantially Z-shaped release lever 20which is supported on the plate I3 and which has a transverse edgearound which the lever may be pivoted for the purpose of releasing therelease member. The other leg 22 of the release lever 20 is the part ofthe lever which is manually operated for releasing the locking member.In the embodiment shown the leg 22 is in the form of a plate providedinside the buckle housing I and accessible through an opening 33 in thewall of the housing. If the operating plate 22 is subjected to pressurethe release lever will pivot around the edge 21 and will therebydisplace the locking member 15 upwardly, i.e. towards the releaseposition. If the opening 23 in FIG.

I should be made to extend further to the right so that the right handedge of the operating portion of the release lever will be accessiblethrough the opening, then the buckle may also be released by raising theoperating lever so that it pivots in a counter clockwise directionaround the edge 21 which will also result in the locking member I5 beingraised and the buckle thereby released. During the release operation thecross member 39 serves to eject the tongue 25. Between the release leverleg 22 and the guide plate I3 there is provided a piece 45 of elasticmaterial which will be compressed upon operation of the release leverand which will tend to return the lever 20 to its inoperative position.The lever 20 is shown in FIG. 6 seen from above according to FIG. ll. Aswill appear from FIG. 6 the opening 46 in the release lever for thelocking member is open towards the front edge of the lever via anarrower portion 47 for the purpose of facilitating mounting the variousparts together.

The connecting member 2 may preferably be made in such a way that afterit has been bent to a desired position it will remain in that position.This may be attained for instance by surrounding the member 2 with afurther piece of tubing which is flexible but nonelastic.

The invention is not limited to the embodiment which has been describedhereinbefore and shown in the drawing as an example only, saidembodiment being capable of modifications with respect to its detailswithin the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A safety belt buckle of the kind comprising a coupling memberconnected to one part of the safety belt assembly and provided with aspring loaded locking member and a tongue connected to another part ofthe belt, said tongue being insertable into said coupling member andadapted upon insertion to raise the locking member against the actionofa spring until the locking member snaps into its locking position andretains the tongue, manually operable means being provided for raisingsaid locking member in order to release said tongue, characterized inthat the tongue (25) has a front edge portion which is inclined in theplane of the tongue relative to the direction of insertion, the lockingmember (15) being displaceable between its locking position and itsreleasing position in a direction which forms a considerable angle tothe plane of the tongue and is provided with guide edges which uponinsertion of the tongue will slide against said tongue front edge, saidguide edges being inclined in such a direction that upon insertion ofthe tongue the locking member will be displaced against the action ofthe spring towards its releasing position, the tongue being providedwith an abutment behind which the locking member will fall down at theend of the insertion movement.

2. A buckle as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the lockingmember is in the form of a plate located in a plane transverse to thedirection of insertion of the tongue and forms a considerable angle withsaid tongue, the side edges of said plate forming said inclined guide.

1. A safety belt buckle of the kind comprising a coupling memberconnected to one part of the safety belt assembly and provided with aspring loaded locking member and a tongue connected to another part ofthe belt, said tongue being insertable into said coupling member andadapted upon insertion to raise the locking member against the action ofa spring until the locking member snaps into its locking position andretains the tongue, manually operable means being provided for raisingsaid locking member in order to release said tongue, characterized inthat the tongue (25) has a front edge portion which is inclined in theplane of the tongue relative to the direction of insertion, the lockingmember (15) being displaceable between its locking position and itsreleasing position in a direction which forms a considerable angle tothe plane of the tongue and is provided with guide edges which uponinsertion of the tongue will slide against said tongue front edge, saidguide edges being inclined in such a direction that upon insertion ofthe tongue the locking member will be displaced against the action ofthe spring towards its releasing position, the tongue being providedwith an abutment behind which the locking member will fall down at theend of the insertion movement.
 2. A buckle as claimed in claim 1,characterized in that the locking member is in the form of a platelocated in a plane transverse to the direction of insertion of thetongue and forms a considerable angle with said tongue, the side edgesof said plate forming said inclined guide.